Justice News

San Diego Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Sending Methamphetamine Through the Mail

BOSTON – A San Diego man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for distributing more than 30 packages of methamphetamine through the mail.

Leonard Leseman, 58, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo S. Sorokin to 10 years in prison and five years of supervised release. In June 2017, Leseman pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.

From approximately 2011 through October 2013, Leseman supplied methamphetamine to co-defendant Robert Annette, by sending packages containing methamphetamine through the United States mail. In 2012, a Postal Inspector, conducting a routine drug interdiction, located a suspicious package sent by Leseman and addressed to a fictitious name at Annette’s Somerville residence. When the Inspector attempted to deliver the package, Annette refused receipt. From then on, Annette arranged for a network of friends to receive the packages. In total, Leseman mailed more than 30 packages containing methamphetamine to various addresses provided by Annette. During the investigation, law enforcement officers also seized packages containing methamphetamine that Leseman sent to customers in Washington, D.C., and Carnegie, Penn.

Leseman and Annette communicated via text message to discuss the logistics for orders, shipments and payments. For example, regarding a package that Leseman sent Annette, Leseman advised him: “You’ll see 3 blind mice eating ice cream.” After Leseman mailed the package from San Diego, Postal Inspectors in Massachusetts seized the package and opened it pursuant to a search warrant. Inside the package were three toy mice and an ice cream maker with four ounces of methamphetamine hidden inside.

To date, five individuals, including Leseman, have pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Scott Hill, formerly of Randolph, was sentenced to 42 months in prison in April 2017, and Steven Marszalkowski, formerly of Provincetown, was sentenced to 13 months in prison in August 2017. Larry Ligocki, of Chelsea, and Annette, of Somerville, are awaiting sentencing.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Shelly Binkowski, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Field Division; and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. Investigative assistance was provided by Postal Inspectors in San Diego and Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Massachusetts State Police Narcotics Task Force in Hyannis, and the Provincetown and Truro Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys James E. Arnold and Craig E. Estes of Weinreb’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit prosecuted the case.